Our dinner table conversation the other night was all about the Bechdel Test, which is basically a gender bias test for movies. (If there are at least two women with lines, who speak to each other, about something other than a man, a movie passes the test.)
S. brought it up in the hopes of educating our kids, but the discussion ended up getting a little heated at times because although the test is a helpful guideline, it's not actually very sophisticated. It certainly doesn't address the larger values and messages in each film, and some "pass" more tenuously than others.
Still, a good starting point for family discussion, and also a subtle reminder that books are nearly always better than movies at including more variety and depth of character -- the kids kept bringing up items that passed and realizing they were books.
But then today I saw this recent video:
(really, I do more than watch TED talks, but it's nice background for some chores)
and it was such a nice coincidence that I felt like posting it.
Some of our own family favorites are the many Miyazaki movies (Totoro, Spirited Away, and Castle in the Sky, for example); I also use this site http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ pretty frequently just to double-check on content and age-appropriateness for our family movie nights, since I have a horrible memory for some of those details even if I've seen the movie myself.
Happy viewing.
This week, we're eating:
Apple-raisin oatmeal; Carrot soup, Oreo-filled chocolate cake
Kashi (the cooked whole-kernel kind, not the cold cereal), smoothies; Pork Pibil tacos
Cornmeal mush, eggs; Cuban black beans
Butterscotch oatmeal; Fish, salad, pasta
Apricot-date muffins; Pizza, raw veggie sticks
Cereal; Stone Soup (an odd Groundhog's Day tradition we have)
Fast Sunday, so no breakfast; 16-bean soup, salad, cornbread
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